The leaders of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary signed an agreement in Bucharest on Saturday on the construction of an electric cable running under the Black Sea to transport Azerbaijani energy from planned Caspian Sea windfarms to Europe, the Reuters reports.
Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban, President of Romania Klaus Iohannis, Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the signing event alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The agreement involves the construction of a 1,100-kilometer, 1,000 megawatt cable running from Azerbaijan to Romania.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said the European Commission had earmarked 2.3 billion euros ($2.4 billion) to support the construction of the power cable, which would be the longest of its kind in the world, and Azerbaijan was inviting investors to build the turbines on the Caspian Sea.
He added that a feasibility study on the cable project will be completed by the end of 2023, which would then take three to four years to build.
Von der Leyen said the Black Sea cable could transform Georgia into an electricity hub and integrate it into the EU internal power market.
As explained by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the Asian country currently produces 27 gigawatts of wind and solar power and is developing projects that should increase this capacity by 4 gigawatts by the end of 2027, according to the European television news network Euronews.
The signed agreement also foresees enhanced cooperation in new energy technology, hydrogen production and expansion of energy transit infrastructure.